The Arranged Marriage
by NeonDomino
Summary: How will Narcissa cope with finding out she's due to marry the man she's been in love with, who appears to not even notice her existence. One-shot.


**A/N - I found this in my story folder. It was one of about 30 un-named documents that I've been trying to sort out.**

**I'm sure I wrote this for a challenge, because it's not one of my usual pairings, and it's not an M rating (which I usually tend to write.)**

**I thought I'd post it. Hope all you Narcissa/Lucius shippers aren't too disappointed by this.**

**Disclaimer - I own nothing.**

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Her shoes squelched through the mud as she ran across the wet grass. She ran as fast as she possibly could, trying to keep herself from slipping gin the mud. Finally she came to the tree by the lake. She sat down, her back against the tree, not caring that she had just covered herself in mud in doing so, and she drew her knees into her chest and put her head on her knees and cried.

Narcissa Black held the letter tight in her hand, the parchment starting to get soggy, but she didn't care. She didn't care about the letter or anything it said on it. She felt her walking back in, meant she accepted the words she had read only minutes ago, although it seemed like longer.

She was aware at some point she would have to face that it was going to happen. In her family, you didn't argue with your arrangement, but why did it have to be him?

The most beautiful man she had ever met, with his soft looking blonde hair, his arrogant but enticing smile and those grey eyes, that would sometimes linger on her.

But had he ever bothered with her before? No. She was to marry a man who barely had a thing to say to her in the past, and she didn't understand how she would be able to cope, being in love with a husband who would only tolerate her because of an arrangement made by their parents.

There had to be more to life, she wondered, as the rain poured down on her, the tree holding no shelter.

She didn't know how much time had passed, or at what time she had lost consciousness, and she didn't feel the arms that wrapped around her, and gently lifted her from the ground.

**...~oOo~...**

Lucius Malfoy watched the owl land in front of him and removed the letter. He opened it, wondering what nonsense his father was talking now, only to find the words he had being dreading.

**'We have finished making the arrangements for your marriage. You will not be disappointed with our choice, she is from a powerful family.'**

Lucius looked away from the letter, and around the table. No-one was paying attention to him and he glanced at Narcissa Black, who was chatting with her friends, her blonde hair flicked over her shoulder. The girls, hanging onto her every word.

He looked back down at the letter, missing the owl that landed in front of Narcissa.

**'You may send us details of when you would prefer this wedding, but no later than a year after you graduate.'**

He would be graduating in just a few months, that would give him less than a year and a half until his wedding.

He looked up and saw Bellatrix cackling like a witch - one of the evil muggle ones from movies, and saw a letter in her hand. "Please not Bellatrix, please not Bellatrix," he muttered, looking down at the letter in his hand again.

"Oh Cissy, guess what?" Bellatrix said, in a sing-song voice."

"Please, dear Merlin, not Bellatrix," he muttered, trying to find the name.

"Arranged Marriage!" Narcissa practically shouted, the entire hall delving into silence.

"Wait until you find out who?" Bellatrix screeched, hurting everyone's ears.

He found the name.

**_'Narcissa Black'_**

**...~oOo~...**

He sighed in relief, before he looked over at the girl and she was looking pale, her lips moving, but not uttering a sound as she read through the letter. Suddenly it was clenched in her fist as she slowly turned towards him, and looked at him in shock.

"You're marrying dear Lucy, isn't that wonderful," crowed Bellatrix, throwing her arms around her shocked sister. Lucius couldn't tell if Bellatrix was being sarcastic or actually happy for her sister.

Narcissa continued to looked shocked, and Lucius was at a loss for words. He could never find anything to say to her.

It wasn't out of cruelty, it was because she was Narcissa Black, the most perfect girl in the school, the one girl he would have wanted a future with. But he always knew he would have a marriage arranged for him, so he would never have allowed anything to happen with her.

But now he finds out he could have had a relationship all that time? Taken her to Hogsmeade, held her hand, bought her presents, sent her flowers, given her jewellery... yet he kept his distance.

He could tell by the look she was giving him, that she was disgusted by the choice, and he didn't blame her. Had he been more friendly, she might have accepted it.

He watched her stand up and run from the Great Hall, and he folded his letter into his robes, and stood up to follow her.

It took him a while to find her, the place was wet and muddy and the rain made it hard to see anything. He had heard the doors close, so assumed she had rushed outside.

Once he had walked to the lake, he spotted her small figure laying at the base of the tree. He approached slowly, as to not startle her, before realising that she was unconscious. He gently wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her off the ground, before walking to the shelter of the castle.

He carefully balanced her, and waved his wand, drying both of them, and removing the mud from their clothes, before bringing her inside. He knew she would care if people saw her in a state. He brought her straight up to the hospital wing, and told Madame Pomfrey where he found her and how long she was missing.

It was a long time before she woke up, yet Lucius was happy to sit and wait. He had time to think about what to say to her, but no words came to mind, he just stared at the small pale witch on the bed, and felt angry with himself for not being faster to possibly catch her before she got too far.

He wondered how he could fix this.

Maybe he could explain how he had fallen in love with her, and always wanted her, but never allowed it because he knew one day he'd be engaged. Possibly to her sister.

He would tell her that he was trying to protect both of their feelings by not allowing them to get to know each other, although he knew more about her then he could even begin to explain.

So he done what he thought was sensible. He didn't befriend her, he treated her as anyone else in the castle, well he wasn't haughty towards her, he just treated her as though she were an acquaintance and that was all.

**...~oOo~...**

She didn't wake until the next morning and Lucius waited off to the side, it wasn't proper for him to wait too close, a lady needs her privacy after all.

Once Madame Pomfrey had checked on Narcissa, she nodded at Lucius allowing him to visit the girl.

He moved away from the doors of the hospital wing and over to the bed. She barely glanced in his direction, only for a second to see who was coming over, and returned her gaze to her hands folded in her lap.

"Lucius, to what do I owe this pleasure?" She asked, making it sound like pleasure was the furthest thing from her mind.

Lucius smiled at her, "My dear Narcissa, I came to make sure you had recovered well."

"I have, thank you."

He could hear the dismissal in her tone and smiled again.

"I also came here hoping you would accept these chocolates. It is Valentine's day after all."

He had ordered one of his followers to retrieve the box from Hogsmeade, and was glad that they feared him enough to sneak out of the castle.

She glanced at the large box I placed on her bedside and nodded. "Thank you, Lucius."

He hesitated for a moment. "There is also another present, I have been sent a collection of Malfoy Family jewellery, for you to take your pick from."

She turned and glared at him.

"Just so you know that as far as arranged marriages go, I am happy with this arrangement."

"Are you? How do you think I feel Lucius? I am to be engaged to marry a man who has spent the best part of the last six years ignoring my very existence."

"Ah yes but you see I have been told about this from such a young age. I knew one day my marriage would be arranged."

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

He realised he would get one chance to explain, one chance to tell her how he felt.

"My dear, how would it have felt if we had been together, had fallen in love with each other, just to receive letters like this one today, forcing us to marry other people?"

Narcissa frowned, not following him.

"If we had been together, I would have received this letter still today. What if it had someone else's name on it, what if it had your sisters name, then I'd have had to break your heart."

"So you pushed me away for a relationship that you don't even know we'd have?" Narcissa sounded confused, but her tone was cold.

Lucius sighed.

"Narcissa. I've been in love with you for a long time. There was nothing more I wanted to do then to escort you to dinner, or to Hogsmeade, or walk by the lake with you, or bring you flowers and jewellery and everything you deserve. But you're Narcissa Black, the most beautiful girl in school, I didn't think I'd be able to obey my family and leave you if that letter had contained a different name, so I chose to stay away from you."

He paused and allowed her to take that in.

"I wasn't going to mess around with a Black. You are a lady, you are worth far more than to be with a man until he casts you aside."

"So you would have dated me?"

"Of course I would, dear lady, that's why this match makes me happy. Out of every name I could have imagined being written on that letter, yours is the only one that doesn't fill me with dread."

"You said you've been in love with me a long time?" she questioned, and Lucius nodded.

"I realised two years ago, Narcissa," He said.

She finally smiled. "Then I guess this match isn't going to be as difficult as I first anticipated."

Lucius smiled at her, not one of the friendly ones she had been used to, but a real one. He took her hand in his.

"I think I've been in love with you for close to two years also," she whispered, her eyes studying his face.

"That's perfect," Lucius grinned. "The perfect match, I get to marry someone who I love, that loves me, and both our parents accept it."

"What would you have done if a different name was on that letter?"

Lucius sighed. "The same as you would have, Narcissa, I would have married the person my parents betrothed me to. That is our duty is it not. We don't need to worry about that anymore, we have each other now."

Narcissa Black looked up at Lucius and smiled.

"Yes, we do have each other," she said, shyly.

Lucius leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her lips. "Let me take you to Hogsmeade this weekend," he requested.

Narcissa smiled and nodded, before pulling him back to her for another kiss.

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**Review if you want, I'm interested to know what everyone thought.**


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